Writing

Writing is a process of discovery as well as a process of

productivity.In contrast to oral-aural skills, writing can provide
students with a chance to work at their own pace, especially if it is
done at home or without any limited time assigned by teachers and
.allows them to think the task over before producing language
Writing is less stressful since it releases students from the pressure of
being anxious when they are called upon to speak facing others; the
.matter which effectively blocks their ability
Writing can offer a permanent record; students can look back on
what they have achieved in order to refresh their minds, to refine,
.gradually their linguistic competencies

:Writing is helpful for teachers in many ways

To reinforce what students have learnt; either vocabulary,.1
.structures or idioms
.To go beyond what students have just learnt.2
.To involve students in the new language.3
.To make decisions of students' success or failure.4

:Writing enables students to

.Discover some thing new.1
.Express ideas freely.2
.Master new learning.3
.Relate the language into their own interests or environment.4
.Communicate with a reader.5
.Familiarize him/her self with the conversations of written English .6
Check and correct what they have written before it is shown to.7
.others

Main points teachers have to bear in mind when conducting a

:Writing activity

.Planning and timing.1

.Deciding the suitable activity to achieve the objective .2
Choosing the most appropriate technique to implement the activity.3
.that suits both students' level and the type of activity
.Following up the outcomes.4
.Checking and feedback.5

Teaching individual letters

Imagine you are teaching anew letter . Which of these steps are
 ? important ? Which are not important

. Draw lines on the board

. Write the letters clearly on the board
. Describe how the letters are formed
. Say the name of the letter
.Give the sound of the letter
. Student repeat the name of the letter
.Student repeat the sound of the letter
. Student draw the letter in the air
.Student copy the letter in their books

Writing words
Joining letters
When students have learnt a new letter, they can practice joining it -1
to other letters they knew already . Obviously, they should only
practice combinations ,which really exist in words ,and as soon as
they know enough letters they should practice writing words and
.sentences
: Which combinations would be worth practicing
ta ti et ot yt th tg nt dt
Letters joining can be thought in the same way as individual -2
letters . Its very important to show clearly how we make joins from
.the end of one letter to the beginning of the next

Copying words

: What are the advantages and disadvantages of copying words

: Advantages

For student who have to learn English

****************************** , copying is a useful exercise ;
students don’t have to produce words of their own , so the focus in
entirely on handwriting

: Disadvantage

Simply copying words or sentences from the board can be

mechanical activity, students can easily do it without really thinking,
. and it soon become boring

? How to make copying more challenging

 One way to make copying more challenging is by including simple
tasks for students to do . For example , we can ask student to match
words together , match words with pictures ,put word in the correct
order . This makes sure that student think about what are they
copying and understand what the word mean ,it also gives reason for
: writing the words . Here are some more tasks
. a-Match the question with the answer then write them out
" b-Copy the true sentence only ." one picture with four sentences
c-Some of these animals are farm animals, other are wild animals
." write them in two lists " Farm animals ---- Wild animals

Dictation
:Revised Items / New Teaching items
.Teacher writes the words on the board.1
.Students read the words aloud.2
T. erases some words to be dictated / Teacher erases part of the.3
.word like a vowel, a diphthong, consonant, combination
.Ss. write the words.4
.T. rewrite the words again on the board.5
.Ss. Look at the words and correct themselves.6

:Classification Exercise
.Ss. Read the words silently.1
.Ss. read the sets.2
.Ss. Fill in the words within a limited period of time .3
.T. moves around offering help.4
.Checking the answers along with the students.5
.Writing the correct answers on the board.6
.Giving appropriate and immediate feedback.7

:Question Answer Techniques

S) T / S  S / S Interaction ( T
T. presents the new teaching point ( N.T.P )-
T. model some sentences or questions asking Ss. P ).either to-
repeat or answer (T
T. chooses a students to ask him / her T) on the (N.T.P).(P-
T. chooses two Ss. To ask each other on the (N.T.P) P)(P-
This technique can be repeated with all (N.T.P) with variety of
questions and the teacher has to correct immediately though
.indirectly

:Pair / Group work

Having presented the (N.T.P), the teacher gives Ss. 2 – 3 minutes to-
 work in pairs or groups
.T. moves around offering help-
.T. chooses (2 – 3) groups / pairs to perform their dialogues-
T. doesn't interface (Why?)-

?How to develop spelling

.Look at the word.1

.Say the word.2
.Cover the word with a piece of paper.3
.Think of the word.4
.Write the word.5
.Check and see if you are right.6

Writing Stages
Controlled writing .1
: Comment on this activity
: Copy the following sentences
". Ahmed goes to school by bus"
: Comments
The activity is completely mechanical. Students can copy the-1
sentence even if they don’t know what it means . Their attention is
.not focused on the meaning of the sentence at all
Because it is so mechanical , it is very uninteresting . The students-2
.are not required to think or use their imagination in any way
How to make the activity more meaningful and more interesting
?while keeping it fairly controlled
Leave out parts of the sentence for students to write themselves-1
,e.g," Ahmed ____________ by bus ." or "Ahmed goes to school
_________ ." Either let student for themselves what to write in the
gap , or say the whole sentence and ask them to write what they
. heard
Say the sentence ,but write only the outline on the board. e.g-2
. "Ahmed – school – bus " student write the whole sentence
.Draw a picture to replace part of the sentence-3

.Ask students to write the whole sentence in words

write the sentence on the board, and ask students to write a similar -
.sentence about themselves
:More controlled writing activities.1

Gap filling: listen to the teacher, then write out the complete-
.sentence
 .Re-ordering words: write the sentences correctly-
.Substitution: write a true sentence like this about yourself -
Correct the facts: Re-write the sentences so that they match the-
.pictures

:Guided writings .2
What problems might be involved in giving a completely free writing
?task
Many students would probably find it quite difficult, ands make -
many mistakes. If so, they would find the task frustrating and
.probably not learn very much from it
Students would probably approach the task indifferent ways, and -
produce a wide variety of different paragraphs. So the only way to
correct their work would be individually, book by book; this would
.be very time-consuming for the teacher

?How can we make such activities guided

.By giving a short test as a model-
.By doing oral preparation for writing-

:Strategies for teaching writing

The strategy you use to teach your students writing depends greatly
on the type of writing activity whether it is a post card, a
de******************************ion, paragraph, dictation … etc
and it also depends on your students level. In general you have to go
.through the following stages

:Pre -Writing process .1

Introducing the subject, discussing a picture, a table, a map … etc,
providing ideas, words, pattern to help in writing, Explaining the
task itself completion, filling gaps, full piece of writing …. Time,
.organization

:Writing process .2
Providing the needed materials, the needed support for students,
creating a quiet atmosphere in which students will have the chance to
.think

:Post-writing process .3
 Checking the product, correcting it, displaying it in classroom by
.reading it or fixing it on a wall or the English corner

General Principles of Error Correction

As far as possible, encourage the students, focusing on what they
.have got right, not on what they have got wrong
 Praise students for correct answers, and even for partly correct
.answers; in this way, they will feel they are making progress
Avoid humiliating students or making them feel that making a
."mistake is "bad
Correct errors quickly; if too much time is spent over correcting
.errors, it gives them too much importance and holds up the lesson

Suggested Ideas for Correcting Mistakes

Correcting work orally in class is a good idea for a large class, as it
greatly reduces the teacher's workload. As he or she corrects, the
teacher can move around the class to check that students are
.correcting their own mistakes
Correcting work immediately in class ( rather than returning it the
next day) means that the teacher can draw students' attention to
.problems while they are still in their minds
Correcting in class works best with fairly controlled writing
.activities, where there are not too many possible answers
Getting students to correct either their own or each other's work
(before the teacher gives the correct answer) takes time in the lesson;
but it gives students useful practice in reading through what they
have written and noticing mistakes. It is also a good way of keeping
.the class involved

Mistakes Identification and Correction

Errors correction is often done by the teacher providing corrections
for mistakes made by the students. However, it is probably more
efficient for students ( as mentioned earlier) to correct their own
mistakes. In order to do this, students and the teacher should have a
common shorthand or code for correcting mistakes. (Correction Key)
 W/O Word order
W/W Wrong word order
WF Word form (noun, adjective, adverb …etc)
SV Subject verb agreement
Number (singular and plural) #
VT Verb tense
VF Verb form (gerund, participle, …etc)
GR Grammar
P Punctuation
SP Spelling
Missing word / add a word ^
X Omit this
Unclear ?
Cap Capitalization
Prep Preposition

Are your students poor at writing? Try the following

 Stage preparation carefully: students should speak-read then
.write
.Grade each step: give shorter, simpler, tasks until they improve
.Give practice in planning, organizing, and expressing information
.Give model or target essays
Practice relevant structures before they write their own.
.Keep a record of common mistakes, focus on ONE per lesson
.Insist on corrections. Test them later
.Make them write in class. Vary the topic set
Do writing as a group work. (the good help the weak).